Emblem

An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a monarch or saint.

A real or metal cockle shell, the emblem of James the Great, sewn onto the hat or clothes, identified a medieval pilgrim to his shrine at Santiago de Compostela.

In the Middle Ages, many saints were given emblems, which served to identify them in paintings and other images: St. Catherine of Alexandria had a wheel, or a sword, St. Anthony the Abbot, a pig and a small bell.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth century, there was a fashion, started in Italy, for making large medals with a portrait head on the obverse and the emblem on the reverse; these would be given to friends and as diplomatic gifts.

A symbol, on the other hand, substitutes one thing for another, in a more concrete fashion:[1] A totem is specifically an animal emblem that expresses the spirit of a clan.

Since the 15th century, the terms of emblem (emblema; from Greek: ἔμβλημα, meaning "embossed ornament") and emblematura belong to the termini technici of architecture.

[6] "Emblem" in this sense refers to a didactic or moralizing combination of picture and text intended to draw the reader into a self-reflective examination of their own life.

[8] Linguistic properties are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adverbs, adjectives, etc..[9] In contrast with sign language, emblems are a non-linguistic form of communication.

The Wilton Diptych ( c. 1395 –1399) features angels wearing the White Hart badge, the personal emblem of King Richard II of England
The family emblem of the fictional House of El
House of the Prince of Naples in Pompeii Triclinium Emblem on North Wall
"The big eat the small", a political emblem from an emblem book , 1617
The coat of arms of Estonia with the national emblem of three lions passant .
Glyph emblem of the Mayan city of Copán in Honduras , installed by the Yax Kuk Mo Dynasty .